Anyone keep them? I use to before I got into fish. I once imported a plant, and it came with an exotic mantid. Once accustomed to humans, they make great pets, you can even let them leave their enclosure! Here is a good site:http://www.mantiskingdom.com/

last year on the way back from drumline rehearsal a huge (6 inch long) female praying mantis decided that the cymbal line was food and attacked us. I trapped her in a box and made her my pet. after a week i just let her roam about the room and fed her crickets i found on campus. she was fairly old when i got her though, and she died about 3 months later.

Very few mantids live past christmas. Early deaths could occur in november, depending on species. They sorta remind me of betta's. They are solitary and will fight, and breeding is very aggressive. Though, a mantid could have up to 2,000 babies! I found an ootheca (egg case) in my backyard, and I plan on keeping 20-30 babies until they get aggressive. I don't have enough enclosures.

I remember back in elementary I had a friend who lived right next to a really big field. He was really interested in animals and was always bringing a mantis or a snake that he had caught to show me. He kept one of the mantises as a pet, I remember, but when he brought it to school to show they forced him to release it.

I love mantids! I personally want one of the beautiful orchid mantids! Gorgeous! Been researching them for about a year, the exotic ones take quite a bit of work to keep at the right humidity..and molting is scary business, that's when most deaths happen(their bodies are soft when they molt, that's how they get out of their skin..this makes them sensitive, so they can be hurt by objects in their cage, but if there is nothing for them to reach or they are in an awkward position, they can become stuck in their old skin and harden and die!)

But the simple beautiful green ones are pretty easy and get to be a nice big size! Sad how short their lives are!

I remember back in elementary I had a friend who lived right next to a really big field. He was really interested in animals and was always bringing a mantis or a snake that he had caught to show me. He kept one of the mantises as a pet, I remember, but when he brought it to school to show they forced him to release it.

That reminds me of the time my older brother took a couple of garden snakes on the bus to school. The bus driver freaked and wouldn't let him back on the bus after school. He was forced to leave them and he found out the next day that they let them go.

Yes, Chinese are great or beginners! I had one, a male, as my first. They are originally native to china, though they got brought to U.S.A. I have a chinese mantis ootheca right now, I could possibly send you some babies.